You cannot plan everything - so do not even attempt to
One trait a lot of us certainly love about themselves is the ability to plan. Humans love to plan. They already start as children. They plan where they grow up, what school they go to and what job they will have later. The mistake, we always make is to think, that the more we plan, the less vulnerable we are for risks and unexpected bad things happening to us in our life. Planning is therefore considered a positive tool to minimize risk. Generally, that is true, the more we anticipate potential problems and danger early, the more time we have to prepare ourselves to minimize the consequences. The problem is now, we have taken this idea too far and if the balance of planning for preventing risks and being open for new things is going to one extreme, it prevents us from reaching our full potential.
We have developed into a society with zero tolerance for risk. We can see this, by people having insurances for literally everything. The whole idea is, to keep unforeseen circumstances and risk associated with the unknown to a bare minimum. What we are missing here, is that risks can also be major opportunities. Because we want to eliminate risk at all costs, we plan. We want to foresee anything that might distract us from our red line path in life. This, however, is an ideal in our head, but by no means how life works.
We need to understand that risks and unforeseen events are part of life just as much as anything else. It is impossible for us to plan and foresee everything that might scare or threaten us in our wellbeing. While planning can help, it also has a negative side to it if taken too far. It leads to anxiety, mental stress and a constant fear and us being on the edge of the next disaster being around the corner. We must make peace with the fact that not everything in our life is going to go according to plan.
The answer is for there to be an equilibrium between a good and healthy dose of planning ahead, together with leaving space and room for spontaneity and not being afraid of things changing constantly. Life is not one big master plan that we make at the start and that will be with us until we die to follow. We need to be open to new things, try new things that might also be risky, however this is the only way we can learn and develop. If we close certain doors from the beginning, just because we want to follow our plan, we will miss on a lot of opportunities out there. The balance between planning, taking risk and being open to try new things is key here.
In a society of ever more risk - averseness, this balance is not easy to find. We need to learn to be open to risk again and not being afraid to experience the unexpected and potentially even experience failure if things do not work out. Not everything will go according to plan, but this is good, as we can learn, collect experiences, and move on with a different or adjusted plan. Our life is a dynamic process, so should our life plan be. Dynamic means constant reflection, adjustments and change to reach our goals and desires to live a balanced and healthy life. We should however not be naïve and completely abandon planning. It is good to have a red line and have a minimum of risk averseness to have some base line of protection implemented if things get tough.
A balance between planning and being spontaneous should be our ultimate desire to proper and grow. We cannot plan everything - so why should we try to?
